Special Thanks to Mike Johns PHD Point Blue
This project questions and explores architecture’s place in ecological systems, specifically the biodiversity hot-spot of the Farallon Islands.
This thesis project proposes that architecture can serve as an interface in wildlife habitats, connecting human and non-human species to promote and facilitate interaction and joint operation of and with architecture. This project is manifested through a series of interrelated interventions on the Farallon Islands, each with the goal of designing non-intrusive, time-sensitive, and mutually beneficial interfaces between species. This thesis takes aim on the decreased biodiversity within our terraforming planet, hoping to generate a connection (stitch) between species and structure. Islands are known to host an abundance of endemic species—bio-variant hotspots—and their isolation from metropolis prompts growth that otherwise does not get altered. Humans, with their invasive nature, have scavenged the remaining archipelago through migration, expansion, and industrial advancements over millennia, creating huge imbalances in food chains, and driving many animals towards extinction (either through excessive hunting or territory loss). Through the lens of contemporary culture, humans understand their impact and seek to promote reassurance towards the existing climate. Architecture as an interface can raise questions about the state of human dominance and the suffering of the natural world. Architecture as object, form, and surface—as an interface that promotes and preserves communal development of its context’s biodiversity—is crucial for the dynamics and codependency of ecology. The architecture represents the knowledge that a lack of biodiversity will lead to the collapse of humanity and society. The structure can perform as a site for community and a symbol for preservation through stitching its contexts’ ecology. Its intention is to provoke meaningful reactions about our ecosystem and provide a network that enhances existing ecology.
This thesis project proposes that architecture can serve as an interface in wildlife habitats, connecting human and non-human species to promote and facilitate interaction and joint operation of and with architecture. This project is manifested through a series of interrelated interventions on the Farallon Islands, each with the goal of designing non-intrusive, time-sensitive, and mutually beneficial interfaces between species. This thesis takes aim on the decreased biodiversity within our terraforming planet, hoping to generate a connection (stitch) between species and structure. Islands are known to host an abundance of endemic species—bio-variant hotspots—and their isolation from metropolis prompts growth that otherwise does not get altered. Humans, with their invasive nature, have scavenged the remaining archipelago through migration, expansion, and industrial advancements over millennia, creating huge imbalances in food chains, and driving many animals towards extinction (either through excessive hunting or territory loss). Through the lens of contemporary culture, humans understand their impact and seek to promote reassurance towards the existing climate. Architecture as an interface can raise questions about the state of human dominance and the suffering of the natural world. Architecture as object, form, and surface—as an interface that promotes and preserves communal development of its context’s biodiversity—is crucial for the dynamics and codependency of ecology. The architecture represents the knowledge that a lack of biodiversity will lead to the collapse of humanity and society. The structure can perform as a site for community and a symbol for preservation through stitching its contexts’ ecology. Its intention is to provoke meaningful reactions about our ecosystem and provide a network that enhances existing ecology.
Instructor: Kristina Borrman, Ted Brown, Julia Czerniak
External Critique: Mike Johns PHD
Partner: Bonnie Yu